Ugo Palavicino
(Argentina, 1936-2013)
With Taller itinerante de teatro infantil/Children’s Traveling Theatre Workshop Tijuana-based artist Ugo Palavicino created a traveling youth theatre that brought workshops and performances to communities throughout Tijuana. Converting a large truck into a stage replete with all the needed accoutrements, the project was specifically designed to be mobile in order to reach children living in different areas of the city and to engage their participation in the art of theatrical performance. The mobile theatre truck worked in collaboration with area libraries where weeklong workshops were coordinated with groups of children, culminating in staged finished pieces performed to an audience of their community. The pieces presented as part of the project arose out of suggestions, preferences, and opinions of the participating children, and included themes such as environmental preservation, family and social violence, and neighborhood anecdotes.
Curators: Susan Buck-Morss, Ivo Mesquita, Osvaldo Sánchez, and Sally Yard
Venues: Public libraries in Tijuana: José María Morelos y Pavón, José Vasconcelos, Emiliano Zapata
Acknowledgments
Leobardo Sarabia, Director, Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura
Armando García Orso, Director of operations, Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura
Teresa Vicencio, general coordinator, Bibliotecas Municipales
Hebert Axel González, Maestro de Teatro, Casa de la Cultura de Tijuana
Ugo Palavicino’s INSITE97 Community Engagement project involved the residents of twelve colonias in Tijuana in an exploration of public space through street theater and performance. Teatro en acción/Theater in Progress was performed over a period of three months, engaging actors, musicians, clowns, and other performers in improvised theater for each colonia. The loose structure and nature of exchange between the performers and their audience allowed the theater to operate outside of the conventional notion of the spectacle.
Project director: Leobardo Sarabia
Organizer: Departamento de Cultura Municipal, Tijuana
Venues: Street corners and plazas scattered across Tijuana
Acknowledgments
Ramón Zepeda